Improvement in breech-loading fire-arms



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E. WHITNEY & F. TIESING.

Imprim/ement in Breach-Loading Fire-Arms.

No. 129,637; Patenred1u|y16,1s12.

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3Shes--SlueefrL?l E. WHI''NEY & F. UESING.

improvement in Breech-Loading Fire-Arms.

No. 129,637, A Patentediuly 16,1872.

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SSheets--Sheet 3. E. WHSTNEY 8L F. TIESING.

Improvement in Breach-Loading Fire-Arms.

29,637, Patentedluly16,1872.

UNITED STATES CATET rrrcii.

ELI WHITNEY AND FRANK TIESING, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT; SAID TIESINGASSIGNS HIS RIGHT TO SAID WHITNEY.

IMPR'OVEMENT IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS.

Specification forming partofLetters Patent No. 129,637, dated July 16,1872.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that we, 4ELI WHITNEY and FRANK TIEsING, both of New Haven,in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a newImprovement in Breech-Loadin g Fire-Arms 5 and we do hereby declare thefollowing, when taken in eonnection with the accompanying drawing andthe letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the same, and which said drawing constitutes part of thisspecification, and represents, in-

Figure 1, a top view; Fig. 2, a side view; Fig. 3, a longitudinalsectional view; Fig. 4, a transverse section on line w through thebreech-block, looking forward; Fig. 5, a topv view of the trigger-guardplate; and in Figs. 6, 7, 8, 8a, 9, and 10, detached views. The firsttwo figures half size, the remainder full size.

This invention relates to an improvement in that class of breech-loadingfire-arms in which a breech-block is arranged upon a pivot to swing backand down to open the breech, and locked when returned to close thebreech by means of a cam, which falls in the rear of the breech-block;and the invention consists, first, in the mechanism, as hereinafterdescribed, for operating the said cam; second, in a cartridgeretractor,arranged longitudinally in the barrel, actuated by the breech-blockdirectly, so that the last part of the movement or fall of thebreech-block will give the said retractor a sudden throw, to eject theshell from the arm.

A is the frame of the arm, of the usual form, and to which the barrel Bis attached in the usual manner, so as to be open at the breech. C isthe breech-block, hung upon a pivot, C1, the said pivot being transverseto the axis of the barrel, and in line, or nearly so, with the l end ofthe arm, substantially as in other arms having this class ofbreech-block. D is the cam, hung upon a pivot, D', parallel to the pivotC1; this cam and the breech-block being formed relatively to each otherso that when the breech-block is thrown up, as in Fig. 3, the cam D willbe forced into the rear of the breech-piece by means of the spring E.Upon the same pivot with the breech-block a lever, C2, is arranged,having a thumb-piece, C3, projecting up, by means of which the saidlever mav be operated. This lever is formed relatively to the said cam,as seen in Fig. 6, so that as the said lever is pressed back to thefirst position, as denoted in broken lines 2, it will have thrown thecam D back to the position denoted in broken lines, Fig. 6, and alsoseen in Fig. 7. The cam is thus moved from beneath the breech-block,then a shoulder, a., on the lever strikes a projection, a', on thebreech-block; the lever, then pressed further back, to the positiondenoted in broken lines 3, Fig. 6, and also seen in Fig. 7, carries withit the breech-block C. Arrived at that point, Fig. 7, which is theextreme movement of the lever, and as seen in Fig. 10, a spring, F,bears upon the under side of the breech-block, where, at that point, afall-oft`, d, is formed, which coming upon and pressed by the saidspring, a sudden throw is given to the breech-block by the spring atthis fall-off, which carries the breech-block down to its extreme point,as denoted in -brolren lines, Figs. 7 and 10. The object of this suddenmovement will be more fully hereafter explained. Gr is the hammer,

arranged through a slot in the cam, as seen in Fig. l, upon the samepivot as the cam, the cam and hammer both turning upon the same center.Before throwing back the lever C2 the hammer must be thrown into theposition of full-cock, as seen in Fig. 3 5 also seen in Figs. 6 and 7.Beneath the hammer and breech-block a lever, L, is hung upon a pivot, l,the said lever shown detached in Fig. Se. The lever L is divided orforked, and between the fork a tongue, l?, is arranged, as a part of thesaid lever, and this tongue has a notch, n, and is arranged in suchrelative position to the hammer that when the hamm er is-drawn back tofull-cock a proj ection, m, on the hammer will catch onto the saidnotch, as seen in Fig. 6, and will there be held until the lever C2 isdrawn down so as to strike and depress the lever L, as seen in Fig. 7,which removes the tongue l? so as to disengage the hammer and allow thehammer to escape, when, by the action of the mainspring G, the hammerflies up until the notch m catches upon the sear f, the notch m beingrecessed so as to lock onto the sear and prevent its removal bymeans ofthe trigger only, as in the usual half-cock. The breech down, thecartridge is inserted in the usual manner, the breech returned by meansof the lever C2, the cam falls into the rear of the breech-piece, asbefore described, and, when fully home, a projection, t, on the end ofthe lever L falls into a corresponding notch in the cam, thus lockingthe cam in that position. As the parts now stand, as seen in Fig. 8, thehammer is locked at half-cock, and the cam and breech-piece also lockedin their closed position; hence the arm cannot be accidentallydischarged; neither can the breechpiece be removed from the closedposition. Beneath the lever L a suitable spring, S, is arranged to bearup the said lever. The full-cocking of the hammer may be done by thescar without the use of the notch a; but in any case the hammer shouldso act upon the lever L that when the hammer is thrown down it willrelease the cam D from the control of said lever. To discharge the armdraw the hammer back to full-cock, where it again engages with the notcha on the tongue P, the end of the said tongue extending back beneath thesear, so that when the trigger is pulled the sear will press down thetongue P, as denoted in Figs. 3 and 6, releasing the hammer from thenotch n. It then ies forward to strike the firing-pin in the usualmanner, the lower surface of the hammer bearing upon the sear so as todisconnect the lever L from the cam, leaving the arm in position foranother operation. R is the retractor for cjecting the cartridge, and isin the form of a slide, working longitudinally in aline parallel withthe bore of the barrel, and from which a projection, b, extends down, sothat a shoulder, 6,'011 the breech-block, as it moves from the positionin Fig. 9 to that in Fig. l0, draws the slide from the barrel, theshoulder being located, as shown in Fig. 9, so that the breech-block mayhave been turned partially away from the barrel before the retractorbethe shell with sufficient force to eject it free` Y from the arm. Inorder to secure the pivots G1 D in place so that they cannot beaccidentally removed we form them with an annular groove, r, around thehead, as seen in Fig. 4,.

the said groove coming within the frame; and from one edge, bypreference the lower edge of the frame, we insert a screw, h, the pointof which enters the said groove and prevents the Y removal of the pivotuntil the screw has been partially withdrawn.

We claim as our invention- 1. The combination of the breech-piece C, itslever G2, the cam D, lever L, and hammer G, when combined to operatesubstantially as described, and with or without the tongue P on thelever L.

2. The combination, with the breech-piece C, of the lever C2,rectractor-slide R, and an acceleratingspring, constructed and arrangedto operate substantially as described, whereby the breech-piece isoperated and the suddenly-accelerated movement of the same is impartedto the retractor to eject the shell, as set forth.

\ ELI WHITNEY.

FRANK TIESING. Witnesses:

A. J. TLBBITS, J H. .SHUMWAY.

